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09th Jul 2017

Dana White insists he didn’t block fighter but is caught out at press conference

"Gimme my phone!"

Ben Kiely

Dana White may have some technical difficulties with his Instagram account.

UFC star Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino accused Dana White of blocking her on Instagram before Saturday’s 213 event headlined by the interim middleweight title fight between Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero.

The women’s featherweight contender was in attendance at the UFC 213 event where she told media that she hoped the UFC president would unblock her soon. At the post-fight press conference, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani couldn’t resist asking White if he would grant her wish.

Ariel Helwani: “Will you unblock her on Instagram? She’s bothered by this.”

Dana White: “She’s bothered by what?”

AH: “That you blocked her on Instagram. She brought this up today.”

White became very animated at this point.When this accusation was thrown his way, he firmly denied it before whipping out his phone to make sure.

DW: “What the fuck! Where’s my phone? Gimme my phone! Why would I block her on Instagram? Why would I block her on Instagram? That’s craziness. She’s following the wrong Dana White! I’m going to look at this right now.”

The Brazilian has been very vocal about her problems with how she is being promoted, often using Instagram as a platform to share her views. When White tried to search for profile on his phone, he could not find her.

DW: “What is her Instagram? Maybe I can’t do this by myself… CrisCyborgMMA?”

AH: “No, but if you blocked her, you may not see her.”

DW: “Why the fuck would I block Cris Cyborg? Listen, we’ve done some stupid things over the last couple of years with the website and other stuff, but why would I go out and block her? Because I don’t want her seeing the stuff that I’m posting?”

At this point, Helwani chanced his arm asking if White would unblock him too, ‘while he was at it’. White was having none of it as he desperately tried to find Cyborg’s account.

DW: “No, you’re staying blocked… So if I blocked her, it won’t pop up? Yeah, it should still pop up, right? Are our social media people here? Anyway, I did not block Cris Cyborg. That’s weird.”

White handed his phone to a member of UFC staff to help him out before soldiering on with the rest of the presser. However, it was still clearly on his mind because but just as he stood up to leave, he tried to get clarification again.

DW: “What happened? Is she blocked? That’s so weird. Like I said, the website we’ve put her in the men’s 145lbs division. we’ve done some stupid shit. But I did not block her. That’s crazy. I don’t know why she would think I blocked her.”

Check out the humorous exchange via MMA Fighting.